Conmen have hijacked the name of domain registrar Melbourne IT in an attempt to get their hands on renewal payments for domain names.

The fraudsters are targeting holders of global domain names, including those ending in the suffix .com and .biz.

An email that purports to come from Melbourne IT, which is accredited by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (Icann) and works with more than 700 resellers worldwide, tells customers that their domain names need to be renewed.

But the rogue email incorrectly insists that, no matter which reseller they registered their name through, they must now make their payments online directly to Melbourne IT.

Customers are then directed to a bogus website to enter their credit card details.

The scam first came to light last night when UK-based, Icann-accredited registrar Internetters, one of Melbourne IT's resellers before it was accredited in its own right, was alerted to it by a UK customer.

The rogue email, with the address 'noreply@melbourneit.com.au', states:

"Dear Customer,

"PLEASE NOTE: You may have registered your domain name through a Melbourne IT partner such as Yahoo!, MSN or your other Internet Service Provider. However payment for renewals must be made directly to Melbourne IT.

"Your domain name is due for renewal. If you renew your domain for more than one year you save $35/year for 1 year, $30/year for 2+ years.

"Please submit your payment online."

Ken Sorrie, director of Internetters, told vnunet.com that the unwary could easily be taken in, as the page to which customers are directed looks like an official Melbourne IT web page.

He also said that the page's claims to secure and encrypt data were false.

"[Melbourne IT] is now sending out emails to their resellers and today Internetters will be sending emails to its customers warning them to ignore such emails," Sorrie said, adding that Melbourne IT had also reported the matter to the police.

Melbourne IT confirmed the existence of the hoax email but was unable to comment further when contacted for an update.